


Divergence

by lethargicProfessor



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 03:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4651050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethargicProfessor/pseuds/lethargicProfessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Series of (mostly) unrelated drabbles in an Alternate Universe setting</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Five Nights

FNAF AU

Anonymous

 

**Five Nights**

Characters: Tyki Mikk, Allen Walker, Lavi, Kanda Yuu, Lenalee Lee

* * *

 

Tyki was an easy-going person, if he said so himself.

He had gone through more jobs than he could count, and he was used to rough work. But when his job at the mine was shut down, he had to resort to desperate measures. The hookup as a security guard, though? That was all Sheryl’s fault.

So, realistically, he could blame Sheryl if he died on the job. If he made it to six o’clock, he would be sure to write that down.

He held his breath at the thump against the glass of the security booth, fingers clenched around his flashlight, knuckles white, fake mascot head firmly in place.

The rabbit on the other side of the security booth thumped again, bright red ears drooping, mouth frozen in a permanent grin. Tyki could barely see the bared teeth, the second set of teeth belonging to the endoskeleton visible underneath. Of the bunch, the rabbit seemed the best preserved, with very little wear and tear. The only damage that Tyki could see was the missing eye that had hastily been covered with an eyepatch, and the suspicious looking smears around its mouth. He had been assured it was rust, but to the untrained eye, patches of rust bared an uncanny similarity to blood.

Tyki _really_ hated that fucking rabbit. The other animatronics bought the fake head well enough, slowly creaking away as soon as they caught sight of it. But not this one. This one was smart.

He wasn’t sure if he appreciated that or not in a killer robot.

The clown joined the rabbit after ten minutes, tilting his head, bright red smile painted on his face. In the darkness, it looked downright sinister. Its face was once brightly painted, but the sun had long bleached one side of its face, leaving only a red mark on its left cheek.

Rhode _loved_ the clown, but Tyki always thought it was out of place in the establishment. Animals he could get, that was the theme, but a clown? Not only that, but the damned thing wasn’t an animatronic at all, as far as he could tell. The clown generally sat on a large ball near the entrance of the play area, solidly bolted to its seat. It shouldn’t be able to move, much less reach his security station.

As he watched them warily, the clown spun around, arms waving in a mock semblance of juggling. The rabbit turned to watch him, mouth opening and closing periodically. Chomping, almost.

Tyki shuddered. He wasn’t dumb, he had heard all about the incidents with the animatronics and the missing children. Sheryl had assured him it was nothing to worry about, but then again, Sheryl had always been a dirty liar.

The phone guy, now, _he_ had been helpful. The calls, cheerfully recorded ahead of time, detailed exactly where and when the animatronics would move, and what to do to keep them from shoving him into a suit of his own. Unfortunately, the phone guy’s luck seemed to have run out if the lack of messages was anything to go by. (He tried to forget the eerie screeching and squelching from his last message, if only to avoid picturing the aftermath.)

A rattling in the vents made his blood run cold, and he braced himself for the worst. If it was the Butterfly, he would be fine. She was easy to scare off. If it was the Black Cat, though, he was well and truly fucked.

He vaguely noted that the rabbit and the clown were watching him again, faces pressed against the glass, glowing eyes boring into him, but the rattling in the vents was getting closer. They could wait.

Sucking in a shallow breath, Tyki armed himself with his flashlight, holding his arms steady. The open grate scraped as the butterfly poked her head out, wings crushed at an awkward angle from her position in the vents.

The butterfly, more humanoid than her animal companions, leered up at him, sharp teeth glinting in the light of his flashlight. She was a popular one in the daytime, all happy smiles and fluttering wings, not to mention an hourglass figure to kill for, but fuck if she wasn’t the creepiest one of the bunch at night. Something about a happy, giggling lady with bug wings crawling towards him through the ventilation system took away some of the appeal, for some reason.

Gritting his teeth, Tyki began flicking the flashlight on and off, holding his breath. If he didn’t hurry and wave her off, the others would try to take advantage and sneak in. Thankfully, she quickly retreated under Tyki’s incessant barrage of flashlight flicking.

“Why the hell does a butterfly need teeth for, anyways?” He muttered under his breath, turning slowly to his camera display. The clown was gone from the window, probably back roaming the halls, and at first glance, the rabbit was gone too. Tyki didn’t make a move to take off his mascot head, though. That red bastard would probably pop out as soon as he did.

He quickly cycled through the cameras, making a note of the static on camera three. If Sheryl didn’t get that fixed, Tyki would stuff him in a suit himself.

He had nearly finished looking through the cameras in the halls when the cat popped out, its face taking up nearly the entire screen of camera eight. He choked on a swear, heart thumping against his ribs as the cat sneered at him.

For whatever reason, the cat, the surliest animal of the bunch, had been delegated to the toddler section, which meant it had the most amount of damage. Clumps of fake fur were missing or matted, exposing parts of its skin, and his jaw had been forcibly wrenched open, leaving it a gaping mess of sharp teeth and wires. Its tail had been lost long before Tyki had gotten the job, and some uncaring soul had wrapped duct tape around the exposed area. Of course, being in close proximity to children meant the tape was barely hanging on, metal endoskeleton clearly visible.

Not only that, but someone – probably Sheryl – had decided that giving the angry cat a weapon was a fantastic idea. The metal sword was blunt, thankfully, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t cause a fair amount of damage. Tyki only hoped that bulletproof glass could withstand the force of a fucking robot whaling on it.

Even as he watched, the cat’s eyes glowed red, and his unhinged jaw shook with laughter as the camera went offline.

“Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ,” Tyki wheezed, scrambling to shut the doors on either side. The vents were open, but the cat couldn’t squeeze in through them, so as long as the butterfly didn’t come back, he was relatively safe.

The power gauge on his monitor read sixty percent, but the clock on the desk said it was 5:30 a.m. If he could only last another half hour, he could go home and drink until he forgot about the night.

“Please let me live,” he hissed, pressing the button harder as if that would somehow reinforce the doors. He heard the sword come in contact with the left door, and from the window he could see the rabbit, eyepatch raised, bright eyes flickering in the darkness of the corridor. The butterfly’s laughter echoed from the vents, but if he could just hold on a little longer…

His hold on the door controls didn’t let up as he scrambled for the flashlight, watching the vents. He only had ten minutes to go. Ten minutes until he could leave, march up to his douchebag brother, and put this job behind him for good. Ten minutes at thirty percent. He could manage it. Barely, but he could.

Abruptly, the banging stopped, and the shining eyes in the dark disappeared. Even the scraping echoes in the vent were gone, leaving everything in eerie silence.

Tyki’s heartbeat pounded in his ears, and he didn’t dare breathe, didn’t move a muscle as the clock continued to slowly count down.

Maybe, if he stared at the clock hard enough, he could pretend he couldn’t hear the metallic shifting behind his chair.  


	2. With You

|  **Anonymous asked:**  AU where Alma became an exorcist with Kanda (maybe some AlmaYuu or poly AlmaYuuAllen?)  
---|---  
  
**With You**

Characters: Alma Karma, Kanda Yuu, Allen Walker

* * *

Allen was very grateful to the Order for many reasons. They gave him a home, a family, a place where he belonged, with people who loved him. Despite the hardships, he was glad to be there, and wouldn’t have traded any of his experiences, good or bad, for the world.

There were times, however, when he hated the Order  _so much_.

As he slowly trudged to his room, his footsteps dragging on the cold stone steps, Allen tallied up that particular mission as one of those times where the Order could, quite frankly, go fuck itself.

It took him almost twenty minutes to reach his bedroom, having lost his way a couple of times, too exhausted to remember which hall he was supposed to take. After the second wrong turn, he nearly collapsed in the hall, too tired to drag his fatigued body somewhere more comfortable.

Tim nudged his head in encouragement, nipping at his fingers before flying ahead. Allen followed blindly, eyelids feeling as heavy as his limbs. He briefly considered visiting the infirmary, or taking a quick bath to ease some of the aches, but the thought of spending even more time awake almost brought tears to his eyes.

He eventually reached his room, grasping his key with shaking fingers, managing to unlock it after the third try. He gripped the doorknob, leaning heavily against the door, ready to collapse in bed and sleep for most of the day.

The room was dark as he stumbled in, faint moonlight streaming in from the window. It took him a few seconds to adjust to the darkness, sighing in relief as he kicked the door shut behind him. Just a few more steps and he could sleep.

Or so he thought, until the lamp on his desk turned on.

“Allen? You’re back?” Alma sat up (on his bed, thank you very much,) scrubbing the sleep from his eyes. Allen squinted, shielding his eyes from the sudden light, noting a second large lump under the covers of his bed.

“Alma, Kanda.” Allen muttered, shucking off his coat, dumping it unceremoniously onto the floor. “Why are you in my room?”

Alma smiled sheepishly, waving him over, eyes bright and alert despite the late hour. “We wanted to wait for you. We just didn’t think you’d be back so late. What happened? Are you alright?”

Allen nodded, smothering a yawn into his fist, his shirt joining his coat on floor. “We got held up on the train…just some akuma.” He waved his hand dismissively. Kanda snorted, sitting up as well.

“You still took too long.”

Allen ignored him, dragging his tired body to the bed. He nearly stumbled into Alma’s arms as he stepped out of his boots, and groaned, relieved, as the other started rubbing his shoulders.

“You look like shit,” Kanda yawned, raising his head. Allen halfheartedly flipped him off, grumbling in protest as Alma patted him down.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, a worried frown on his face. His fingers lightly skimmed across the bandaged mess on his chest, and Allen jumped as he prodded a bruise blooming on his shoulder. It was already turning an ugly purple, and he could imagine that by morning it’d be much worse.

“I’m just tired,” Allen replied, batting at Alma’s hands. The older man cracked a thin smile, eyeing the bandages critically. Kanda reached across Alma, poking at the bandages, raising an eyebrow in question. Allen shrugged, kicking his pants off as best he could without jostling his injuries.

“Fucking idiot,” Kanda sighed, rolling out of bed grudgingly to help him out. Alma laughed, shaking his head fondly as he watched Kanda practically wrestle Allen’s clothes off him, the younger exorcist going limp as soon as he was free. Kanda groaned, shooting him an exasperated look as he carried the kid to bed.

He sometimes acted like he hated it, but Alma knew Yuu, and he knew he cared for Allen as much as he cared for Alma. Smiling, he slipped out of bed, wincing as Kanda dumped Allen on the bed. He whined in protest, skin mottled with bumps and bruises, but even as they watched, Allen’s eyes closed, breathing evening out.

“He’ll be alright soon,” Alma whispered, carefully putting out the lamp at his bedside. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Who’s worried?” Kanda scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Even in the darkness, though, he could feel Alma’s deadpan stare. “Shut up.”

Alma giggled, covering his mouth as he picked his way to the door. “Come on. Let’s let him sleep.”

“Don’t go.” Kanda glanced back at the bed, tugging Alma back as the kid struggled to sit up.

Alma clicked his tongue, marching back to the bed, easing Allen back down. “We’ll stay, we’ll stay! Just lie down and rest. Kanda’s right. You do look like shit.”

Ignoring Allen’s outraged squawks, Alma climbed into bed, looking up at Kanda expectantly. He imagined that the kid would be too, if he could sit up. Defeated, he walked back to the bed, lying down on Allen’s other side. “Happy now?”

“Arguably.”

Kanda rolled his eyes, relaxing as Allen’s breathing slowed. Alma let out a soft chuckle on his other side, and Kanda felt him roll over, stretching an arm across Allen’s torso, fingers brushing against Kanda’s side.  


	3. Drawing Days

 

  
[wardenofthenorth](http://wardenofthenorth.tumblr.com/) asked:

DGM AU prompt: Alma and Kanda grow up happily together (with Alma going to art school).

 

**Drawing Days**

Characters: Alma Karma, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

Alma Karma, artist extraordinaire, came and went like a storm, leaving disaster in their wake. Tools, paints, pencils, all were scattered across the small studio with very little regard to anything. Kanda had long given up trying to clean up. If his coffee mug fell to Alma’s grubby little hands, well, that was just some tough shit.

Said coffee mug was on the floor, filled with filthy paintbrushes and a spoon. “Fuck’s sakes, Alma…”

He made a move to grab it in the faint hope of washing it for its intended purpose, but gave up with a shrug. It would end up in Alma’s grip again one way or another. He did, however, stop long enough to flip off the perpetrator. Alma was sprawled out on the couch snoring, bright drops of paint streaked across their face and hair, the project they were working on set delicately on the coffee table to dry.

Alma cared very little about the state of their little flat, which had been Kanda’s main reason for dropping by as often as he did. When they were in the middle of a project, they lost track of time, which meant, more often than not, that Kanda had to be the one reminding them to eat, or to sleep, or to take breaks.

(He didn’t care what Daisya said, he was not mothering Alma. He was just making sure they didn’t accidentally starve because they were too busy painting.)

 A couple of trips a week turned into every day of the week, which somehow ended in Kanda sleeping over almost always. He had managed to carve out a spot for himself in the artist’s flat, even though he hadn’t meant to at all.

(And now he was kind of, officially-unofficially living with them, but that was neither here nor there.)

Taking care not to wake Alma up, Kanda picked his way to the kitchen, his body going through the motions as he began making breakfast. It was still dark out, not that it would make a difference once the sun came up. Cheap rent came with shitty scenery.

Alma said they didn’t mind; the buildings towering over them were just as interesting subjects as any sunrise or sunset could be. Kanda didn’t see it, but that’s why he wasn’t the artist.

The smell of breakfast roused Alma, and they shambled to the kitchen with a sleepy smile. “Mornin’, Yuu.”

“Stop stealing my mugs, you fuck,” Kanda muttered, but there was no heat in his words as Alma wrapped their arms around his waist. They made a small sound of agreeance, burying their face into the spot between Kanda’s shoulder blades. Kanda suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, but continued working as best as he could manage with the other’s arms around him.

(He hated to admit it, but that was as routine as anything else. Daisya said he was getting soft. Kanda punched him in the face for that.)

A soft jab to Alma’s gut dislodged them, and with a grin, they began brushing off the mess on their kitchen table. “I’m staying late today to finish up a project, alright? Don’t wait up.”

“As if I would,” Kanda said, setting the food on the table. Alma shot him a look, clearly amused, as if Kanda hadn’t been waiting up for them for months now. Kanda chose to ignore them, sitting down to eat. “Wipe that look off your face. I’m working tonight.”

While Alma’s place was relatively cheap compared to most other places, it still put a pretty big dent in their savings. And since Kanda had been staying for extended periods of time, it was only right for him to help split the bills. Of course, it would help more if he wasn’t a drop out doing odd jobs around the city, but they couldn’t afford to be picky. Alma was still in school, and that was all that mattered to Kanda.

“With Daisya again?” Kanda nodded, watching Alma as they walked back to the kitchen. “That’s cool. You should tell him to come visit more often. Do we have any clean mugs?”

Kanda scoffed. “I’m not inviting him again to eat all our food. Hell no. And _no_ , we don’t actually, because _someone_ keeps using them all to clean their brushes.”

Alma’s smile was blinding, not apologetic in the slightest as they walked back to the table with tea in red plastic cups. “Oops.”

“Why don’t you just use these for your art stuff?” Kanda asked, taking the proffered cup.

Alma shrugged, sitting back down, slurping at their tea loudly. “Because I knock them down and then there’s paint water everywhere and it’s a mess and then _you_ get mad because I don’t clean it up.”

“I wouldn’t get mad if you just picked up after yourself.”

Alma hummed, unconvinced, but let the subject drop. They ate in silence, Alma pausing every so often to peek out the windows. The sky was starting to turn blue beyond the tall buildings, which meant they had to leave soon. They turned to Kanda suddenly, tapping at the table to get his attention.

“Hey, we’re still going to the Met tomorrow, right?”  Alma bounced in their seat, an excited gleam in their eye. “They have a new drawing and print exhibition I really wanna see.”

In all honesty, it sounded boring as hell, and walking around for hours surrounded by crowds was the epitome of everything Kanda hated with a passion, but Alma had been talking about the exhibit for weeks, and the museum was offering a day of donation admission, which meant they could actually afford to pay for the tickets.

“Yeah, we’re still going,” Kanda sighed. He could suck up a few hours of trailing after Alma while they gawked at paintings. It couldn’t be worse than following Lavi around the Museum of Natural History. Now _that_ had been a nightmare.

Alma beamed, taking their plate to the sink. “Also, I forgot to tell you. Allen said he got free tickets to the MoSex if you want to come with us.”

“Absolutely fucking not.” Daisya was wrong. He wasn’t getting soft with Alma. He still knew where to draw the line, and the line was definitely drawn at the inflatable boob bouncy house.

“Oh, well, that’s okay.” Alma hummed, rinsing off their dishes. “Maybe Lavi can come with us, or Daisya. That would be fun.”

Kanda choked on his tea, turning to glare at Alma, who merely smiled sweetly in response.

Maybe Daisya was right. Maybe he was getting soft. It was the only explanation he had for putting up with so much shit.

(The inflatable boob house turned out to be just as bad as he had predicted. Alma loved it. Kanda swore he’d never go to a museum with them ever again.)


	4. More Than Human

anonymous asked:

Ot4 modern witches au!!!!!

**More Than Human**

Characters: Allen Walker, Cross Marian, Lenalee Lee, Lavi, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

When Allen Walker turned thirteen, his Uncle Cross sat him down for a lecture.

It wasn’t quite what he was expecting, what with the older man towering above him as he paced in their living room, puffing at a cigarette like his life depended on it. Based on what Allen had heard in relation to adult figures and lectures, he was bracing himself for a talk about puberty, about birds and bees and how babies are made.

He was, unfortunately, not ready for the sudden sadistic smirk that bloomed on Cross’s face. The man loomed over him, cigarette forgotten in his hand.

“Yer a wizard, Harry,” he intoned, the corners of his mouth twitching with the effort of keeping a straight face.

Allen, for his part, felt very, very confused and concerned for his uncle. “I’m sorry? What was that?”

“A wizard.” And here, a tiny snicker slipped from the redhead’s mouth. “Or, if you want to be technical, you’re a warlock.”

Feeling like this was part of some joke or prank Cross was pulling, Allen followed along. “Oh. Of course, a warlock.” He cleared his throat, unsure of whether he should smile or not. “When, um. When am I headed to Hogwarts?”

“If only it were that simple,” Cross muttered, taking a hasty drag from his nearly burnt-out cigarette. “It would sure as hell save me the trouble. Then I wouldn’t have to be teaching you brats anything.” He continued on a tangent under his breath for another few minutes, grumbling about ‘stupid kids’ and ‘stupid laws’ and some covenant or other.

Allen frowned, struggling to follow along. “Wait, what are you talking about? You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”

“I’m really not,” Cross said, snapping his fingers as his eyes – sclera and all – turned a pitch black. Allen’s scream caught in his throat, eyes bugging out at the sight of the stub of a cigarette slowly reforming into a new stick.

Cross’s smirk was downright wicked as he lit (or relit?) the cigarette. “You’re a warlock, Allen. Your training starts now.”

* * *

 

That had been almost three years ago.

Allen would like to say he had gotten used to the fact that he was a warlock, and that some of his closest friends were also warlocks-slash-witches, and that his family was wrapped up in some weird, illuminati-esque conspiracy theory.

He would like to say that, but he couldn’t. His life was weird as _shit_ , and he blamed his uncle wholeheartedly.

Somehow, things involving _that_ side of his family had gotten progressively worse throughout the year, which, in hindsight, was unsurprising. In only a couple of months, he would turn eighteen, and would then “Ascend” into his full powers.

Cross’s lessons had increased, along with his extracurricular lessons with his fellow magic users. Allen wasn’t sure what he looked forward to less.

Every day, after school, he waited for Kanda to pick him up in his stupid stoner van, and then after a brief game of ‘where the fuck is everyone,’ they headed to the woods on the edge of Lavi’s grandfather’s property.

There, Allen’s studies continued. Magic, he quickly learned, was not like they showed in the books and movies. Magic was unpredictable, and dangerous, and very much life-threatening, quite literally. Some would say that the ability to even do magic was a blessing. He had to respectfully disagree. No one cared what he had to say on the matter, though, and so his studies continued.

The four of them crunched through the fiery leaves on the ground, picking their way through scraggly trees, catching up on each other’s day. Kanda and Lenalee both worked, and all three of them had university classes along with their other duties, so it was kind of nice to spend some time with them. (Allen thought it’d be much nicer if they didn’t have to spend time while training him to be a warlock, but he couldn’t win them all.)

They reached a small clearing, the trees around them pockmarked from previous sessions, the bark charred black, and set to work. Lenalee and Kanda sat on the floor; Allen and Lavi took their positions across from each other.

“Ready?” Lavi grinned, holding a fistful of rocks. Allen sighed heavily, but nodded.

“What happens when you turn eighteen, Allen?” Lenalee quizzed, drawing her knees to her chest. Kanda watched for a moment, twisting a snort into a cough as Lavi let loose with the rocks.

“You ascend.” Allen held his hands out, palms facing forward, feeling the magic coursing through his fingertips as he blocked the rocks. “You reach the peak of your power.”

“What happens if you overuse your power after you ascend?” Lenalee continued, smothering a laugh as a rock sailed dangerously close to them.

Lavi smiled sheepishly in apology, crouching down to scoop up more rocks, alternating his barrage on their youngest member. Allen huffed, eyes turning black when he deflected the next projectiles. “Uh…You can become addicted to the power.”

“And?” She prodded, dropping her head against Kanda’s shoulder.

“If you use them too much the power will age you or kill you.” Allen squeezed his hands, relishing the feeling of magic surging, crushing the rocks into a fine sand.

Lavi rolled his eyes at the theatrics, walking closer to the group. “You’re lucky that doesn’t apply before you ascend. Your hair would be white at the rate you’re going, kid.”

“Don’t say that.” Lenalee scolded, picking through the leaf litter. “You know that happens a lot, Lavi. That’s rude.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Lavi raised his hands in defeat, sitting on the floor across for Kanda. Disgruntled, the black-haired warlock kicked out at him, but the action was halfhearted at best.

(Lenalee had told Allen about their relationship when they were younger, and how badly they relied on magic to beat each other up. Allen was glad to have missed that portion of their lives. He could barely stand their bickering as it was. He was loathe to imagine it all, but with _magic_ involved.)

Allen sat next to him, picking through the fallen leaves for the ones that were still whole. The ones he deemed acceptable he handed to Lenalee, who gently placed them on Kanda’s leg. He allowed it, so disinterested that he couldn’t be bothered to shake them off.

“Is there anything else we haven’t covered yet?” Lavi asked, sliding leaves over for Allen to inspect. He picked a few up from those offered, handing them to Lenalee with a smile.

Lenalee shrugged, draping the leaves across Kanda’s shoulder. To his credit, he didn’t move, but his face scrunched together unpleasantly. Lavi barked out a laugh into his scarf, turning to lie on his stomach. Allen took the opportunity to cover his back with leaves, carefully spelling out A-S-S with the longer leaves.

“We’ve covered types of magic,” Lenalee giggled, and even Kanda cracked a smirk. “And what happens after we ascend…Um…”

“Lavi covered all the juicy historical bits,” Allen said, forming a frame around his message. “Like a nerd.”

“It’s important stuff!” Lavi said, resting his chin on his hands. “We need to know where we come from, you know? You don’t just suddenly wake up with magic powers with no explanation.”

“Except when you do?” Their laughter echoed through the trees, carried away on the chilly fall breeze.

“We should go to a coffee shop,” Lenalee said at length, sitting on her knees to drape a large oak leaf on Kanda’s head. He let it stay for all of three seconds before he flopped onto his back, the artfully placed leaves sliding off. Lenalee pouted; he ignored it.

“That sounds great, actually,” Lavi stood slowly, stretching exaggeratedly before helping Allen to his feet. Lenalee reached her arms out to them, beaming when they hauled her up.

Kanda continued to lie on the floor, a pensive look on his face. “Did Cross tell you about willing the power to someone else?”

Allen looked up, not missing the concerned look Lavi and Lenalee shared. “I don’t think so? What is it?”

Kanda sat up slowly, brushing the remaining leaves off his clothes. “Old Man Zhu did it with Link.”

“You can give the power to someone else, but you’ll die.” Lenalee said, crossing her arms uneasily. The chilly air suddenly seemed a lot colder. “It’s not something people usually do. For…you know. Obvious reasons.”

“Gramps had mentioned something about that, a while back,” Lavi mused, running a hand through his hair, usually sober. “Didn’t say why they did it, though. I didn’t even know the old man and Link were close.”

“They weren’t.” Kanda scowled, standing slowly. “Fucking Leverrier forced the old man to do it.”

“Can they do that?” Allen asked, frowning. He had briefly met Zhu in the past, and he seemed like a nice old man. He had heard he passed, of course, but Cross only said it was from old age. He never thought he meant it in a magic sense.

Lenalee sighed, taking his hand, pulling him back towards the edges of the woods. “It’s not…illegal, exactly. But it’s frowned upon. Someone who is given willed power gains all of the other person’s power, so, those people who’ve ascended become twice as strong.”

“Stronger if you get even more,” Lavi added, following a few steps behind. “There’s records of an ancestor doing that. Forcing all the families to will him their power. It…didn’t end well.”

“If they’re power-hungry like Leverrier, it’ll probably happen again,” Kanda muttered, pushing past them to unlock the van. “It’ll be another witch hunt like back then.”

“It won’t happen,” Lenalee whispered, squeezing Allen’s hand. He had the vague suspicion that she was saying it for her sake as much as his. Still, she shot him a small smile, pulling the door open for him. “So don’t worry about it.”

They packed into the van, a thick silence hanging over them as they sped away from the woods. Allen almost imagined the trees on fire, smoke fading into the gray skies above, afterimages of pitchforks and torches plaguing his imagination. 


	5. Up a Creek

Anonymous asked:

au where sOMEONE FINALLY TEACHES KANDA HOW TO SWIM

**Up a Creek**

Characters: Kanda Yuu, Lavi, Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee

* * *

 

Two things were true in Kanda’s life.

One: He didn’t know how to swim.

Two: He didn’t want to know how to swim.

He was perfectly content sitting on dry land, in the shade, watching Lavi and Allen take turns dunking each other in the pool, with Lenalee occasionally interfering long enough to hold them down underwater.

No, he was more than happy to just sit and relax in the heat and stay dry. (Also, chlorine and hair – his hair, anyways – didn’t mix.)

“Yuu! Hey, Yuu!” Kanda hid an eye-roll behind his glasses, pretending he didn’t hear the exuberant redhead. Usually, if he ignored him, he would go away.

Lavi, bounded over, dripping wet, the skin across his shoulders already an angry red. “You asleep, buddy?”

“What do you want,” Kanda sighed, watching the redhead warily. The last time he let his guard down, they almost managed to toss him in the pool. 

“Come swim with us!” Lavi plopped himself on Kanda’s chair, carefully sprawling himself over him. Despite the heat, the water clinging to his body was cold, and immediately brought goosebumps on Kanda’s skin.

Hissing, Kanda flailed, trying to get some leverage to push the redhead off.  The pool water, unfortunately, rendered him more slippery than a goddamn eel. “Get off me!” 

“Just let ‘im stew alone, Lavi!” Allen called, floating lazily on an inflatable donut. “He’ll probably melt if you toss ‘im in anyways.”

“Go fuck yourself?” Kanda snapped, a sudden sharp rib to the gut squeezing the air out of him, twisting his extremely witty retort into a startled question.

Lavi laughed, sliding off Kanda onto the grass. “C’mon, it’s like, a hundred degrees out. Aren’t you hot? Just get in the pool.”

“I’m fine.” Kanda glared at the redhead, patting around his immediate area to find something to chuck at him. Finding nothing, he settled for glaring at the redhead. It wasn’t very effective.

Lenalee, busy sunning herself by the pool, spared them a glance. “Kanda doesn’t know how to swim.”

Kanda froze, shooting Lenalee a betrayed look, struggling to ignore the sudden, choking laughter in the pool.

“It’s not like it’s hard or nothing, Yuu,” Lavi grinned, hopping to his feet. “It’s pretty simple. You’re less dense than the water, so you float. After that, you just use your arms and legs to push yourself along. Nothin’ to it.”

“I’m not getting in the pool.” Kanda crossed his arms stubbornly, slapping Lavi’s questing hands away. “I don’t want to swim.”

“Let me just teach you!” Lavi wheedled, his wet hair dripping on Kanda. “Me and Lena can teach you! I promise it’ll be totally safe. Allen’s even got CPR training! N-not that we’ll need it, of course.”

“You are absolutely off your rocker if you think I’m going to perform any sort of lifesaving maneuver on the person who literally said they would never even piss on me if I was on fire, much less help me out. Fuck that.”  Kanda couldn’t see the little brat with Lavi in his face, but he hoped that the brat could see his hand, middle finger proudly raised.

Lenalee slowly made her way over, a drowsy smile on her face. “You sure you don’t want to try? We’ll make sure nothing happens, I promise.”

“And you know Lenalee’s word is good as gold.” Lavi dropped his head on Lenalee’s shoulder. Kanda would imagine his pout would be more convincing on someone who wasn’t Lavi.

Lenalee held her hands out to him, beaming despite the spreading burn on her cheeks. Kanda groaned, taking her hand to haul himself up. “I hate all of you.”

“It’s an important life skill to know,” Lavi said, walking back to the pool. “You never know when you’re going to need to know how to swim. What if…I dunno, you get dropped in the middle of the ocean?”

“When is that ever going to happen?” Kanda deadpanned, watching Allen float past lazily.

Lavi shrugged. “I dunno. That’s exactly why you need to be prepared.”

“We’ll be with you, Kanda,” Lenalee reminded him. “And the pool isn’t that deep.”

“I’ll burn.” His protests were getting weaker, but Kanda really didn’t want to get into the pool. “I don’t want to be a lobster like you losers.”

Lavi shrugged, scratching at his shoulder absently. “It’s not so bad after it passes. You just get freckles. Freckles are cute.”

“Because that’s definitely what Kanda is aiming for, cute.” Allen snorted, sliding his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose.

Lenalee ignored him, stepping behind Kanda to pull his hair up in a bun. “You won’t burn, it’s fine. You ready?”

Lavi whooped, jumping into the pool with a splash, slicking his hair back as he reached the surface. Grinning, he patted the water. “Come on! Let’s do this thing. We’ll start with floating, yeah? Everyone can float.”

“He’ll probably still manage to muck that up,” Allen called, yelping as Lenalee suddenly cannonballed into him. He came up to the surface sputtering, donut lost in the altercation.

Lenalee laughed, swimming close to the edge of the pool. “Come on, Kanda!”

“You’re the fucking worst,” Kanda groaned, sitting down. The water was freezing, even with the sun beating down overhead, and it reeked of chlorine.

He braced himself and slid into the water, swearing under his breath every step of the way.

At the end of the day, Kanda learned two things.

One: he could not swim for the life of him. (They tried so hard. It made no difference.)

Two: he did not tan, and he did not freckle. He _burned_. It sucked.

He hated swimming.


	6. In Sickness and Health

Anonymous asked:

Ot4 modern roommates au where every but Lena is sick and she looks after them. Then when they're all better she gets sick and they look after her :D

**In Sickness and Health**

Characters: Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu, Lavi, Lenalee Lee

* * *

 

Wednesday morning, Lenalee woke up before her alarm clock went off to the sounds of someone violently heaving in the bathroom.

Half-asleep, she stumbled from her room to the bathroom, peeking in through the cracked door. Allen looked up at her blearily, crouched over the toilet, sweaty and out of breath. He might have mumbled something or other, but she couldn’t catch anything over the sound of him retching.

“Jeez, Allen,” she whispered, voice thick with sleep as she knelt down to rub his back. He whimpered in response, dropping his head heavily against the porcelain. “Did you eat something bad?”

He shrugged weakly, spitting into the toilet. “I feel awful…”

“I can tell.” She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead, sliding it down to his cheek. Even in the early morning chill, he was too hot, and he was clammy under her touch. “You’re burning up…hold on.”

“Not going anywhere,” he gurgled, shoulders trembling as he returned to face the toilet. Sighing, she slipped out of the bathroom, tiptoeing past Kanda and Lavi’s rooms to the kitchen. It was quiet, the only light coming from the clock on the microwave, and she banged her hip against a counter as she fumbled in the dark for a cup.

Filling it to the brim, she began her slow trek back to the bathroom, holding the water out to Allen. “Here.”

He nodded his thanks, rinsing his mouth out while she searched through the bathroom cabinets for medicine. “Do you want something for the fever or for the vomiting?”

“Fever, I guess.” He slid back on the tiles, resting his back against the wall. In the mirror, Lenalee could see tear tracks on his cheeks.

“Should we take you to the ER?” She asked, twisting the cap off a bottle of painkillers.

Allen wrinkled his nose, holding a hand out for the pills. “Rather not…I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“Do you mean it, or are you just saying that because you don’t want to deal with hospital bills?” He smiled sheepishly but didn’t respond, gulping down the pills with a sigh.

Sometimes he was so stubborn. It’d be endearing if it wasn’t life threatening most of the time.

“Come on, Al…” She helped him up, slowly leading him back to his room. “Try to sleep it off, alright? I’ll bring you some more medicine in the morning.”

“Sure,” he murmured, unceremoniously flopping onto his bed. “Don’t you have class?”

“Yeah. I’ll check on you when I can, though. Kanda and Lavi too, if they can manage it.” Lenalee smiled reassuringly, brushing the hair away for his forehead. He still felt warm, but hopefully it would pass with some sleep. He nodded slowly, and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Sighing to herself, Lenalee returned to her bedroom. If she was lucky, she’d catch a couple more hours of sleep too.

After her alarm went off, the morning passed in a blur; she vaguely recalled checking on Allen, and leaving a note for Kanda and Lavi to keep an eye on their youngest roommate, but after that, she was swept away in a flurry of lectures and assignments, a mild headache pounding at her temples adding insult to injury. By the time she got home, it was late afternoon, the sun slowly setting in a blaze of orange.

Inside their apartment, however, it was pitch black.

Frowning, Lenalee patted the wall, fumbling for the light switch, keys still gripped tightly in her free hand. Her fingers brushed the switch, and with a sigh, she flipped it on.

The room was suddenly bathed with light, and with the illumination came a sudden, confused groan. She watched as an unidentified lump on the couch sat up, and stifled a giggle as a red head poked out a mass of blankets.

“Hey,” Lavi rasped, blinking owlishly in the bright light. “Lights off, please?”

Lenalee complied, picking her way in the dark to the couch. “Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?”

“Feel like shit.” He sounded like it too, but Lenalee didn’t comment. Instead, she patted the couch, pressing her fingers into the mound of blankets until she found a free spot.

“What’s wrong?” She sat on the edge of the couch, hands wandering across fleece until she reached Lavi’s face. His cheeks (or what she assumed was his cheeks, she wasn’t sure, quite honestly) felt extremely hot, but she couldn’t tell if it was from a fever, or from his time under the blankets.

He whined under her hands, but pressed closer anyways, sniffling piteously. “Throat hurts. Head hurts. I hurt.”

“I’ll bring you something in a second.” She patted his cheeks lightly, standing. “Did you check on Allen?”

“Nah.” He shifted, the blankets tipping precariously off the edge of the couch. “Yuu did. Said he looked like hell.”

“Right.” She hoped whatever the boys had wasn’t contagious. That was the last thing she need. “Let me check on him.”

“Sure,” he enthused weakly, rolling over on the couch, the mass of blankets wrapping around him.

Shaking her head, Lenalee walked to her room, stopping long enough to dump her books on her bed before turning to Allen. The door was cracked open, and a sliver of orange bled in through the cracked blinds.

Allen appeared to be dozing, but looked up when his door creaked open. “Welcome home…”

“How’re you feeling?” Lenalee sat on his bed, pressing her hand against his forehead. He was still warm, but not as bad as he had been earlier.

Allen shrugged, scrubbing at his face. “Achey. Hungry. Kanda threw some crackers at me earlier from the door.” He waved the sleeve of crackers as evidence, smiling at Lenalee’s laugh. “I could be worse.”

“It’s probably just a bug,” she said, pinching his cheek lightly. “It’s going around at school. Lavi’s sick too.”

“I heard.” Allen rolled his eyes, shooting her a fond grin. “I could hear him all the way over here. He’s so dramatic, you’d think he had the plague or something.”

“Maybe he does,” Lenalee teased, patting his leg. “Do you need anything before I go handle Lavi?”

“Food. Real food, please. People food.” He watched her walk to the door, waving the crackers at her in outrage. “This? I can’t live off this, Lena. I’m not a bird. Lena!”

“Eat your crackers, Polly.” She ignored his pleading, walking back to the darkened living room. “Lavi? Have you been throwing up too?”

“No?” His muffled reply barely reached her through the layers of blankets. “Hurts to swallow though.”

“Alright…I’m turning the lights on, okay? Cover your head or whatever.” She gave him a moment to adjust before turning the lights on again, digging through their pantry for a couple of cans of soup.

Her head hurt a little more now, the pounding behind her eyes growing beyond mild irritation, but she ignored it. It was probably just stress. Once she finished with Lavi and Allen, she could take a nice, soothing bath and unwind.

At least, that was the plan, until Kanda slammed into the apartment with a scowl. He stalked down to his room without so much as a glance, the door rattling shut behind him. Lavi huffed at the sudden onslaught of noise, retreating back into his blanket fortress when Lenalee shushed him.

_Priorities, Lenalee. Priorities_. She set a mug of soup on the coffee table in the living room, tapping at the lump she assumed was Lavi’s head to get his attention. Once she was sure he was aware there was food in the vicinity, she took a bowl of soup to Allen, eyeing Kanda’s door warily.

Allen lit up when Lenalee walked in, immediately going from elated to disgruntled as he sniffed at the soup. “This is a sham. A can sham. It’s not even real soup.”

“Shut up and eat it,” Lenalee chided, helping Allen into an upright position. “You can complain about people food if you can keep this down.”

With her two patients taken care of, Lenalee squared her shoulders and marched to Kanda’s door, wiggling the doorknob. “I’m coming in, Kanda. Fair warning.”

“Don’t!” Lenalee ignored him, shoving the door open.

Kanda sat on his bed, glowering at her, a box of tissues in his lap. His nose was bright red, and even as she watched, he sniffled loudly. Still glaring, though.

Lenalee felt her headache get worse. “Are you sick too?”

“No.” He sneered, gripping the box of tissues. “It’s just allergies.”

It would have sounded much more convincing if he didn’t sound so congested. “You don’t get allergies, Kanda.”

“I do too.” He coughed into his tissue, heavy and wet, disgust clear on his face. “I’m not sick.”

“Denying it won’t make it any less real, you know.” Lenalee watched him for a moment, shaking her head. “I’ll bring you some soup.”

“I’m not sick!”

* * *

 

Allen’s bug cleared out in two days, and Kanda’s cold followed soon after. Lavi needed antibiotics to deal with whatever infection he was fighting, but after a week, he was fit as a fiddle too.

Lenalee, though. Lenalee was well and truly fucked.

The cold she could have worked through easily enough. It would have been miserable, but she could have managed. It was the bug and the infection plus the cold that knocked her on her ass and put her out of commission for a week and a half.

If she had one medicine for one thing, she had to make sure it didn’t react with another thing, and so on, and the headache never really went away throughout the entire ordeal. It sucked. The only upside was that she had three very attentive roommates checking on her at all times.

“I still don’t see how it’s fair for me to do your homework for you,” Lavi muttered, sitting on her floor with her books spread out in front of him. “You didn’t do my homework when I was sick.”

“It’s your fault she’s sick in the first place,” Allen said, carrying in a bowl of soup. “And she took care of your dramatic ass without complaint.”

“And you did your own homework anyways, idiot,” Kanda pointed out, easing Lenalee up. Lavi huffed, jostling his leg halfheartedly.

“You guys got her sick too,” he grumbled, tapping his chin with a pen. “It’s not all my fault.”

“It’s mostly your fault, then.”

Lenalee was very sick, and very tired, and everything hurt, yes. Would she want to get sick again? Absolutely not. But being in her room, surrounded by the people she cared about most, made it all a bit more bearable.


	7. Triumvirate

[kandayuu](http://kandayuu.tumblr.com/)  asked:

modern au with this post :U kandayuu(.)tumblr(.)com/post/123427783499/whenever-i-flirt-with-you-you-laugh-it-off-and

**Triumvirate**

Characters: Lavi, Lenalee Lee, Allen Walker

Based on [THIS ](http://kandayuu.tumblr.com/post/123427783499/whenever-i-flirt-with-you-you-laugh-it-off-and)post

* * *

 

Lavi was a drama queen of epic proportions, and that was a well-documented fact. Allen _knew_ this, and yet somehow still managed to feel a sense of wonder when his big, dumb boyfriend stomped into the room and threw himself on their couch.

He waited for a few minutes, flipping through his book without actually reading anything. He learned early in their relationship that sometimes Lavi just needed to be needlessly dramatic.

Eventually, he turned over, heaving a loud sigh to catch Allen’s attention. Allen politely set his book down, clearing his throat in an effort to hide his grin. “What’s wrong, Lavi?”

“I saw Lenalee again today.”

He sounded so dejected Allen almost laughed. Almost. Instead, he just plastered on a poker face, dropping his chin on his hand. “That’s…not surprising, seeing as how she’s our friend.”

“I saw her, and I was gonna ask her to dinner with us, you know?” Lavi groaned, rolling over on the couch again, flailing limbs grasping onto a couch pillow. “We started talking, and you know how I get. I started flirting with her and she _laughed_!” He sat up, pillow tucked firmly under his chin. “She laughed and she was blushing and she still turned me down!”

“Well…” Allen mulled over his words carefully, reaching for his phone. “It’s not…too surprising? She knows we’re together.”

“I know that!” Lavi slid off the couch with a thump, face scrunching up in pain. “But I can’t just come out and tell her we want to date her. That’s rude. We haven’t even had a date yet.”

“So you want to ask her during the date?” Allen hummed, swiping at Lenalee’s number. “Do you think that’d be alright?”

Lavi shrugged, crawling over to rest his head on Allen’s knee. “I dunno. Never done this before. I don’t even know how _we_ started dating, honestly.”

“It just kind of happened,” Allen whispered, carding his fingers through Lavi’s hair, waiting for Lenalee to pick up. “One day you just started showing up and eating my food.”

“I think you have it backwards, Al,” Lavi groused, closing his eyes as Allen smoothed his hair down. “But sure, whatever makes you feel better.”

“Shut up.” The line clicked, and he set the phone on speaker. “Lena?”

“Hi, Allen!”Lenalee greeted, the distant sounds of people arguing fading away. “What’s up?”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” She was probably helping her brother out in the lab, which would certainly explain the din. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. Bak is visiting. You know how he gets with my brother.” She laughed, and Allen grinned at the goofy smile that bloomed on Lavi’s face.

“Of course.” Allen pinched Lavi’s cheek lightly, winking at his boyfriend. “Are you busy tonight?”

“Not that I know. There’s a lab assignment due tomorrow, but it shouldn’t be too hard to finish,” she said. “Why?”

“We were wondering if you’d like to get dinner with us, actually. What do you think?” Lavi held his breath, and Allen couldn’t help but follow suit.

The receiver was dreadfully silent, panic evident in Lavi’s eyes as he sat up straighter, squeezing Allen’s leg. Allen cleared his throat, frowning. “Lena?”

“I’m here, sorry!” She sighed into the receiver, breath rattling loudly, almost drowning out her words. “Um, yeah, Lavi mentioned something about dinner…”

“Did he?” Allen ignored the pressure of Lavi’s fingers digging into his leg. “That’s good. We’d been meaning to ask you for ages, we just weren’t sure what your schedule was like.”

“Are you sure?” The line frizzled on her end for a second, her voice tinny and far away. “I don’t want to intrude or anything.”

“We’re positive,” Allen smiled, reaching down to pry off Lavi’s hands. “We’d love it if you came along with us.”

“Well…sure, I guess.” The phone clicked, and Lenalee’s voice returned, clearer this time. “What time?”

“We’ll pick you up.” Allen glanced down at Lavi, nodding as the other raised his hands. “Seven on the dot, alright?”

“Sounds great, Allen. I’ll see you then.” She still sounded a tad unconvinced, but hopefully he and Lavi could make it work.

“Then it’s a date. See you soon.”

* * *

They set off to Lenalee’s at twenty ‘til, Lavi a mess in the passenger seat. It was cute, how nervous he was about asking Lenalee out. Granted, it would have been cuter if he wasn’t so freaked out about it.

“I’m gonna fuck this up so bad,” Lavi hissed; his cheeks were bright red, and they hadn’t even made it to Lenalee’s apartment yet. “Al, tell me we won’t fuck this up.”

“We won’t fuck this up,” Allen dutifully parroted, easing his phone from his back pocket, tossing it on Lavi’s lap. “Text her? We’re almost there.”

“What if she doesn’t want to be with us?” Lavi tapped at the phone, wedging it under his leg after he sent the message off. “What if she hates us?”

“I sincerely doubt she’d hate us, Lavi.” Allen spared him a look before turning back to the road. “Were you like this when we started dating?”

“You have _no_ idea. I was a fucking wreck.” They pulled up into Lenalee’s block, and Lavi let out a sort of high-pitched wheeze. “Oh, man.”

“Please control yourself, Lavi. She’s our friend, remember? Above all else, Lenalee is our friend. She’s not some…creature that’s going to rip your beating heart out and eat it with a nice cup of tea.” Allen parked in front of her building, undoing his seatbelt. “Lavi?”

“Yeah…you’re right.” His face was still unbearably red, and he fumbled at his seatbelt before Allen took pity on him.

“You’re ridiculous,” Allen murmured fondly, squeezing Lavi’s cheeks between his hands to place a swift kiss on his lips. “I love you, but you’re ridiculous. Any last words?”

“Don’t let me say words during dinner.”

“I’ll certainly do my best.”

They somehow made it up to Lenalee’s floor in one piece, and knocked on her door. Lavi’s breath was strangely controlled, but the flush on his face was considerably lessened, so Allen chalked it up as a victory.

Komui opened the door, bleary-eyed, a steaming mug of coffee gripped tightly in his hands. “Hello, boys…You’re going to dinner?”

Lavi nodded stiffly, and Allen rolled his eyes. “That’s right. We won’t be out long, promise.”

“I would hope not,” Komui sniffed, taking a long slurp of his coffee. “You know the rules by now, right?”

“Absolutely.” No texting and driving, no drinking and driving, or while under the influence; no illegal substances, no speeding, and God forbid they get involved with the police somehow. Komui was nice and all, but they knew not to piss him off.

Lenalee made her way over with a smile, stopping long enough to kiss her brother’s cheek goodbye before stepping out. “Sorry I took so long. My brother didn’t say anything weird, did he?”

“Surprisingly, no.” Allen smiled, opening the door for her. “I think it’s the first time.”

“Probably because it’s you two,” she replied, stepping out into the street.

Allen shrugged, not missing Lavi’s disgruntled look. “What does _that_ mean?” He whispered at Allen.

“Probably that he doesn’t see us as a threat.”

“Ouch.”

* * *

The restaurant was a quiet little hole in the wall, but well known to the trio. It seemed like the perfect spot to pop the question.

After ordering, they spent some time catching up; Lenalee had been busy working in her brother’s lab, and Allen hadn’t really had a chance to see her often. Lavi was their liaison of sorts, visiting the lab often for research purposes.

Their food arrived, and they hit a lull in the conversation. Lavi looked flustered, but had managed to keep the conversation up normally. He had a napkin balled up in his fist, but other than that, he seemed to be holding it together.

“Lenalee…” Allen took a deep breath, shooting Lavi a look. The redhead returned it with a shrug. Lenalee watched them, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. “We, um…we wanted to ask you something.”

“We want to date you.” A heavy silence fell across the table at Lavi’s sudden declaration. Allen wanted to kick him.

Lavi, blushing brighter than his hair, ducked his head, tearing the napkin in his hands to shreds. “I mean, well, yeah. That. Both of us. Together. We want to date you. So. You know. It would be the three of us. Dating. Together.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Allen murmured under his breath, turning to Lenalee. She was also bright red, staring intently at her lap. She made a move to say something, but shook her head, pressing her lips together instead. Lavi visibly deflated, taking her shake as a negative.

“Lena, I-I’m sorry—“ he began. Allen reached out, covering his mouth with his hand. He couldn’t tell if the look Lavi shot him was annoyed or relieved; he’d have to ask later.

“Lenalee?” He waited until she looked up, nervously meeting his eyes before glancing at Lavi. Allen smiled reassuringly, holding his hand out to her. “Look….we asked you to dinner because we wanted to ask you…that. If you’d like to maybe consider being in a relationship with both of us.”

She swallowed, but slowly took his hand. Lavi watched silently, eyes shooting between them. Allen continued. “I know it’s…not the most ideal way to ask you, but trust me, it’s not how we planned it. At least, not how I planned it.”

Lavi shrunk in his seat sheepishly, and Lenalee stifled a giggle. Allen squeezed her hand, blindly reaching under the table for Lavi’s. He tugged his hand onto the table as well, bringing them together. “We…love you very much, Lenalee. You’re very important to us, and we would like it if you…you know.”

“Dated us?” Lavi finished, setting his free hand on the table, palm up towards Lenalee.

She stared at them, slowly reaching out to grab Lavi’s hand. “You mean it? You want me to?”

“Of course!” Lavi’s smile was blinding as he squeezed her hand, bringing it to his lips. “We’d love it.”

“Absolutely.” Allen nodded, lacing his fingers with hers. “If you’re alright with it, of course. We don’t want you to do anything if you don’t want to.”

“I…would like to.” She smiled shyly at them, squeezing their hands in return. “I’d really like that.”

Lavi cheered, immediately cowering when a server shushed them. Still, nothing could dim the smiles on their faces. 


	8. Doubt and Trust

[lenalee-lee-loves-lavi](http://lenalee-lee-loves-lavi.tumblr.com/) asked:

Lavi ans Lenalee angel au pls pls pls

**Doubt and Trust**

Characters: Lavi, Lenalee Lee, Alma Karma, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

They sat together on the roof of the cathedral, two shadows overlooking the plaza spread out before them. It was early in the afternoon, but the people below were scarce, huddled in their coats against the chilly temperatures. Only a few figures milled about, standing the cold through pure determination and stubbornness.

Lavi thought it was an endearing quality in humans. Foolish, sure, but endearing nonetheless. Still, he couldn’t help but worry, eyes tracking his charge as she stamped her feet in an effort to stay warm. Alma was doing the same, shaking their head fondly at their own charge.

“Should we do something?” Lavi asked eventually, fingers curled lightly around the tiled ledge they sat on. He wasn’t sure about Alma’s charge, but he knew that if Lenalee stayed out in the cold much longer, she would definitely get sick. It wasn’t his job, necessarily, protecting her from tiny things like the common cold, but it was his duty to keep her safe. That was part of it, wasn’t it?

“We can’t interfere,” Alma reminded him. Their cheeks were flushed red, having taken on a physical form for the moment. Lavi’s own face felt numb, and figured his face was just as red from the cold. He let out a heavy sigh, watching his breath fog out and float away. Alma laughed softly, relaxing back against the cold tiles.

Lavi shook his head, breathing warmth into his cold fingers as he watched the small group below. “Does it ever get easier?”

“Watching over them?” Alma shrugged, swinging their legs slowly. “I don’t think it does. Not really.”

“That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, you know.” Lavi joked halfheartedly, eyes glued to his charge.  

He didn’t have to see Alma to know the other had a frown on their face. “Lying is against the rules.”

The redhead hummed absently in response. The wind picked at his hair, the chilly breeze carrying with it the underlying scent of the storm. Their charges either did not see or ignored the signs, carrying on with their meeting.

Lavi frowned, a low, bubbling irritation growing at the base of his skull. It was a foreign sensation, a heavy sort of heat settling on his shoulders despite the cold. He wasn’t sure what brought it on, and he wasn’t sure if the feeling was welcome. For all intents and purposes, he shouldn’t be feeling anything at all. Alma noticed.

“Something is bothering you.”

Lavi couldn’t lie, but he could avoid answering. Alma sighed, light fingers poking against Lavi’s shoulder, a soothing touch against the irritable heat. “You can talk to me.”

He wanted to. He wished he could say everything he was feeling, but he knew that would make things worse. It was against the rules. And yet…

“I think I love her.”

The words were soft, lighter than the breeze that carried them away. The thunder that rumbled overhead was a coincidence. (Or maybe it wasn’t. He would find out soon enough.)

Alma drew their knees up to their chest, eyes tracking their charge as he slowly gathered his things. “I understand.”

“Not like that.” It was wrong, it was bad, but Lavi needed to let it out now that he had opened his mouth. “I _love_ her. More than…”

“I know.” Thunder rumbled again, the wind whipping across their skin, sharp and stinging. It was an uncomfortable sensation, and had he been human, it would have probably bothered him. Instead he welcomed it, the bitter winds sweeping away the cloying annoyance he felt.

They watched their charges walk away together, chattering amiably. Lavi felt his chest ache as he stared at her, thick iron bands wrapping around his lungs, squeezing uncomfortably at the sight. It was love, he knew, and yet not like the love he knew in heaven. It was...wrong, for someone like him, to feel that way about a human, much less his charge.

“I can’t help it,” he whispered, to Alma and to the cloudy skies above. It wasn’t an excuse, or an apology. It was a fact.

“I know.” Alma repeated, a pained expression on their face, standing slowly on the roof of the church. “I feel the same. But you know…”

“The rules, I know.” The disgust that flared in his chest was new, but not entirely unwelcome. The human feelings meant something, though he wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.

“Just…be careful.” Alma stepped off the roof, physical form disappearing without so much as a whisper. Still, their voice echoed in Lavi’s ears, a prayer and a warning in one.

Lenalee’s figure was slowly disappearing down the street, her soul a bright beacon in the nameless mass of humans below. Nothing mattered except that light, the warmth that radiated from it more lovely and exquisite than anything else he had experienced.

(The thought alone was treason, enough to expel him from the heavens. He had heard tell of those who had Fallen, none of their stories happy in the end. He didn’t want to suffer their fate, but more importantly, he didn’t want to lose his charge. He would rather die a thousand deaths under the heavenly host than spend a second away from her.)

He waved the thoughts away, forcing his chilled body to move. His charge was getting further away, and he had to make sure she was safe.

He wasn’t sure if it was the ominous thundering overhead, or something that carried in the air, but he could feel something bad coming.

* * *

He trailed after Lenalee for blocks, anxiety gnawing away in the back of his mind with every step. Something was going to happen to his charge, and he hadn’t the faintest idea of how to stop it.

Rationally, he knew her time wasn’t up; he would have been informed if it was Lenalee Lee’s last day, but he couldn’t help the nervous knot in his stomach, couldn’t stop the uneasy clench in his chest.

It wasn’t really his fault. Besides a scare in a fire years ago, Lenalee had lived a safe life. Unlike some others, like Alma, his charge hadn’t suffered any situation that called for his specific assistance. It had been a blessing and a curse. Now that he actually needed guidance, he didn’t know what to do.

He was so caught up in the mess of emotions, almost overwhelmed by the sensations, that he missed Lenalee ducking into an alley. Ordinarily, it served as a shortcut home; he had followed her through it countless times.

Never had it set off warning signs as it did now.

Breath catching in his throat, heart pounding in his chest, he turned on his heel, diving after her. He stumbled over his feet a couple of times, unable to compensate for his slower physical body, and plunged into the darkened alley without a thought.

His heartbeat was deafening in his ears, and his eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden darkness as he made his way down, bracing himself against the alley wall. His fingers skimmed cold dampness, disgust coiling deep in his gut, adding to the storm of emotions roiling inside him. Above all else, though, he could feel panic, pure fear digging into his veins, gripping his heart in a vice until he thought it would explode. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t be able to stand it.

They alley gave way to a sharp turn, and he took the corner with a groan. There, only a few feet away, was Lenalee, hedged uncomfortably between a metal dumpster and a stack of wood and cinderblocks. In front of her, brandishing a gun, was a mugger.

The maelstrom Lavi had felt only moments ago fell away into a cold fury like nothing he had ever experienced. He knew procedure, knew he couldn’t interfere in anything short of a life-threatening situation, and that even then he had to let the situation play out. It was his job to observe, and only interfere if he needed to save Lenalee’s life.

He knew. And yet he couldn’t stop himself from lunging at the man, nameless, faceless, his guardian long gone.

There was a scream, a gunshot, a heavy, wet thump as a body met stone, and then silence.

Lavi took in a slow, shallow breath, slowly looking around. The mugger had been thrown clear across the alley, body slumped over a pile of trash like a rag doll. Lavi swallowed heavily at the scars left behind on the brick walls, long black marks that still smoked with heavenly fire.

Below him was Lenalee, her arms thrown across her face protectively. She seemed safe, or at least unhurt. Hesitantly, he sat up, spots dancing in front of his eyes as his body struggled to acclimate to the sudden discharge of power. A physical body was never supposed to be used with heavenly energy; a body wouldn’t be able to handle it. It was pure luck that he hadn’t destroyed himself in the process of saving his charge.

“Who…?” Lenalee wheezed, dragging herself away from him. She winced in pain, but seemed more shaken than hurt, glancing at him warily before staring at her would-be mugger.

Lavi sat back on his haunches, hands raised slowly, palms out, in order to ease her mind. “It’s alright…” He noted belatedly that there was blood dripping from his hand. The mugger must have clipped him somewhere before he could stop the gun’s discharge.

“Are you hurt?” He asked. She was the priority. He could deal with his body after he was sure she was safe at home.

Lenalee stared at him, arms limp at her side, eyes focused on a spot above his shoulder. Confused, he glanced back, getting to his feet with a groan. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, unless he counted the unconscious mugger in the trash. The headlights of cars driving past threw the alley briefly into light, but again, he saw nothing strange.

“What…” Lenalee’s voice cracked, and she swallowed thickly before she could continue. “What are you…?”

He opened his mouth, a lie ready on his lips, when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. In the light of a passing car, he saw his shadow stretch behind him, his physical body dwarfed by the black outlines of his wings.  


	9. Golden Flowers

Hey! Hope I'm not too late for AU prompts. This is kinda vague, but apparently Kanda is canonically a fan of gardening, so what about an AU where he runs a plant nursery? (He doesn't like the idea of cutting flowers since it kills them, so he runs a nursery instead of a flower shop.) I don't have a pairing in mind so it's up to you, though I always love to see Kanda and Allen interacting

**Golden Flowers**

Characters: Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu, Timcanpy

* * *

 

It started with the cat, as it usually did.

Allen really should have known better by now, because he _knew_ Tim was an outdoor cat and therefore _liked_ being outside, but when he heard that someone was stealing pets in his neighborhood, he had been forced to drag Tim indoors.

Tim didn’t like that, and so took matters into his own paws, which left Allen very concerned, and very cat-less.

Now, he cared for Tim very much, but it was important to note that while Tim lived with him for the most part, Tim was _not_ his cat. Tim belonged to his uncle, and if something happened to Tim while in Allen’s care, his uncle would erase him from existence. Or so he had promised. Allen didn’t want to put it to the test.

So, armed with a flashlight, a picture of Tim, and grim determination, Allen set off to hunt the cat down.

He systematically searched through his neighborhood, knocking on doors, climbing up an absurd amount of stairs just to be thorough, but came up with absolutely nothing. Crossing out the immediate vicinity, Allen expanded his search outwards, hoping that nothing bad had happened to the cat.

He paused his search long enough to call a couple of shelters on the off-chance they had taken Tim, but the description of a golden tabby with a white patch on his chest left him with no cat and a massive headache.

Allen was already planning his speech to Cross when he walked past a nursery, a little patch of green in the otherwise drab gray city. Curious, he peeked in through the chain-link fence, choking on his spit as he spotted a very fat, very yellow cat amidst the greenery.

“Shit.” Allen looked around, trying to find a way in. The door to the building was locked, as was the gate into the nursery. From what he could tell, they wouldn’t be open until ten the next day. If he waited, Timcanpy would be long gone.

“Shit,” he sighed again, rolling his sleeves up. Hopefully no one called the cops on him. He didn’t want to lose the cat _and_ spend the night in holding again.

Taking a running start, Allen gripped the chain-link fence and hauled himself over it, landing with a dull thump on the other side. Timcanpy raised his head lazily but did nothing, curled up in a potted plant.

“Here, Tim….Here, kitty….” Allen began picking his way through the plants, crouching low to avoid scaring Tim off. He was not about to set off on another wild goose chase around the city. “Come on, Tim…”

He was doing his best to be careful, squeezing between tables and rows of pots, the colors still vibrant in the evening light. In any other situation, he would have thought it was a lovely place; he could see all sorts of shrubs and little trees, and a set of tiny greenhouses set against the far wall.

He was a man on a mission, however, and stalked through the plants with his eyes on the cat. Timcanpy rolled over, tail flicking lazily, and purred. His hind legs were half hanging off the plant, but he didn’t seem to mind, content to just….lie there.

Allen reached him, breathing heavily from his trek through the plant trenches, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “I’m taking you home, you brat.”

Tim merely purred, obnoxiously loud in the quiet nursery. There were bits of green around his nose and mouth, and Allen watched him bat at the plant above him lazily. Sighing, he knelt down, dragging the cat out from under the plant with a grunt. “Jesus, Tim…”

Tim didn’t answer, dangling limply from Allen’s hands, purring like a motorboat. _Strange_ …”What the fuck, Tim?”

“Your cat is fucking stoned.”

Allen would like to say he didn’t scream, trapped as he was trespassing, a big, fat yellow cat in his hands, but that would be a lie.

The person leaning on the door stared at him, utterly unimpressed with everything he was seeing. “What are you doing?”

“Um…” Allen glanced down at Tim, who purred, and then back at the man. “Well…you see…my cat ran in here, and….”

“And ate my plants, yeah. I noticed.” He crossed his arms. “You’re paying for that, by the way.”

Allen groaned, tucking Tim under his arm. “I don’t have my wallet on me.”

The smirk the guy shot him was nothing short of evil. “Guess I’m calling the cops, then.”

“No!” Allen stumbled forward, holding a hand out to stop the other man before he could turn back inside. “Wait, wait! _Please_ don’t call the cops!”

“Why not?” The smug bastard stepped away from him and into the doorway, thoroughly enjoying himself. “It’s stealing and trespassing on private property already.”

“Please don’t.” Allen squeezed Tim to his chest, scrambling to find a way out of things. He could _not_ get anything on his record again. “Um….”

Tim gave a small, disgruntled _mrew_ in response to the increase in pressure, wiggling in Allen’s grip. “Look, I need to take the cat home, but I swear on my uncle’s life that I’ll come back, and…uh. I’ll work for free! Until I pay off whatever damage Tim made.”

“How do I know you’ll come back?” The guy was leaning back on the door now, frowning.

“Well, you’re blocking the only way out, so I kind of can’t leave anyways if you don’t let me.” Allen pointed out, sighing. “Look…My name is Allen Walker, I live on 14th Street. If I’m not here tomorrow morning, then by all means, come hunt me down.”

He rolled his eyes, shoving the door open. “Be here at nine sharp or I’ll kick your ass.”

Allen’s first meeting with Kanda was certainly memorable, what with him running out of the nursery at breakneck speed with a cat dangling from his arms. It wasn’t his proudest moment, but he’d had worse. 


	10. High School Never Ends

[kandayuu](http://kandayuu.tumblr.com/) asked:

i have more prompt things!! :D  [Based on THIS post](http://kandayuu.tumblr.com/post/119889258839/dgm-urban-fantasy-au)

 

**High School Never Ends**

Characters: Lavi, Lenalee Lee, Allen Walker, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

Study groups weren’t something he was well-versed in, but Lavi was almost positive they were doing it wrong.

Lenalee was at least attempting to do homework, lying on her stomach in the middle of the blanket nest, wings neatly tucked in to avoid accidentally smacking someone. She had a book open, at least, which was more than the others had.  Allen had long given up on being productive; instead, he had his head on Lavi’s lap, watching videos on his phone. Kanda was doodling on one of his assignments, the flowers along the margin devolving into a bona fide garden taking up half the page.

“Why are you drawing flowers?” Lavi asked, running his hands through Allen’s hair. Allen groaned softly in response, melting into the touch.

Kanda stuck his tongue out in concentration, turning the page in front of him to get a better angle. “They’re in memory of when I gave a fuck about algebra.”

Lenalee snorted, wings ruffling softly. “If you don’t do your assignments, you’ll be held back.”

“I don’t need this in my life. What am I going to do? I’m a _vampire_.” Kanda rolled his eyes, poking Lenalee’s nose with the tip of his eraser. She flicked at it, laughing. “I’m not going to use any of this.”

“It’s not like it matters if he’s held back anyways, right?” Allen stretched, half sprawling on Lavi’s lap contentedly. “It’s not going to make a difference. He doesn’t exactly have a time limit as to when he has to finish high school.”

Kanda frowned, looking torn between agreeing with Allen or disagreeing on principle. “I don’t want to stay in high school longer than I have to. I’m _old_. I shouldn’t have to be dealing with dumb hormonal teenagers and bullshit algebra assignments and book reports.” He spat.

“If you don’t want to stay in high school then do your homework.” Lavi patted Allen’s stomach lightly. “Scoot, kid.”

Allen huffed, rolling off him, latching onto one of Lenalee’s pillows instead. Kanda stared at Lavi, offended. “You don’t get a say in this. You don’t even _go_ here.”

“You’re right. Why should you go to school when clearly your knowledge of pop culture’s going to carry you through the rest of your undead life?” Lavi teased, flopping over on the ground with a relaxed sigh.

“It’s called ‘re-living’, asshole, not undead.” Kanda sniffed, returning to his doodles. Lenalee, apparently also giving up on homework temporarily, sat up, moving closer to Kanda to braid his hair. It was slow going with her talons, but neither seemed particularly concerned about that.  

Lavi shook his head, grinning when Allen rolled over to rest his head on Lavi’s back. “Shouldn’t you be nicer to Lavi, Kanda? After all, he’s the one that makes sure you don’t burst into flames on the regular.”

Kanda scoffed, tilting to the side to allow Lenalee to finish her braid. “I’d be nicer if he did a better job.” He rolled his sleeve up, brandishing his arm, the ugly burn stark against his pale skin. “Look at this shit.”

“Gross.” Lenalee muttered, patting around the nest for a hair tie. Allen laughed.

“Hey, don’t complain about the product,” Lavi sulked, rolling towards his backpack. “It worked fine. You’re the idiot that didn’t listen to directions. There’s a reason we do things the way we do them.”

“Maybe I just don’t like the sound of your voice.” Kanda hissed, head jerking back when Lenalee tugged on his braid.

She smiled sweetly, talons glinting faintly in the light of her desk lamp. “Oops.”

“Why are we friends? Why am I friends with any of you? I literally hate all of you.” Lavi ignored Kanda’s theatrics, digging through his bag. For someone who was positively ancient, Kanda sure acted like a child a lot.

“Speaking of products,” he said, tutting under his breath as he searched. “I have things for you losers.”

“Permission to eat the human?” Kanda muttered, crossing his arms across his chest.

Lenalee rolled her eyes, twisting his braid around his head to form a crown. “Permission denied.”

“You know you’d be lost without me.” Lavi tossed a bottle at the vampire, whistling. “You need me.”

“I survived long enough without you, I’m pretty sure I can do it again.” Kanda caught the bottle with a frown. Shrugging, he unscrewed the cap, chugging the liquid inside.

“Shh. You need me.” Lavi slid a pair of amulets at Lenalee. “For you and your brother. They’ll last you a month.”

“Thank you, Lavi.” Lenalee smiled, slipping one of the amulets around her neck. Her form flickered for a second before the glamour took effect, harpy features disappearing from view. She shivered, standing slowly. “I’ll go take this to Komui.”

Allen peered into the bag curiously. “Anything for me?”

“I have a peanut butter sandwich if you want it.” Lavi held it out, grinning. Allen took it, settling back with a smile.

“You’re dropping crumbs everywhere,” Kanda muttered, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “You’re making a mess.”

“Do you ever stop complaining? You’re worse than my uncle, and that’s saying something.” Allen sniffed in response. “You’re a grumpy old man in a teenager’s body.”

Kanda growled, scooping up a pillow from the floor. With pinpoint accuracy, he heaved it at Allen’s face, the pillow making a dull ‘thump’ as it came in contact with its target. Allen yelped, knocked back from the force of the projectile.

Lenalee returned to an all-out pillow fight, Kanda pitching pillows at Allen with deadly intent, Allen struggling to defend himself from behind Lenalee’s desk chair. Lavi had taken refuge under Lenalee’s desk, smiling sheepishly at her unamused frown.

“All of you are terrible and you should feel bad about yourselves.” 


	11. Extracurricular

  
[xxkilledbymusicxx](http://xxkilledbymusicxx.tumblr.com/) asked:

Please! Please! For D. gray man Au prompts! Can you please write something were Allen is a werewolf, Lenalee a harpy, kanda a vampire, and lavi Is a mage, and they're all best friends in a highschool, hiding their actual selves from from the world?!

**Extracurricular**

Characters: Allen Walker, Lenalee Lee, Lavi, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

Kanda wondered sometimes why he didn’t make friends with people closer to his own age.

Lavi said it was because there were very few people still alive that were close to Kanda’s age, but Kanda ignored most of what Lavi said on principle. (Also, it was hard for anyone older than Lenalee and the Bookman kid to take him seriously, seeing as how he still looked like a teenager. He got carded in the supermarket. It was a nightmare.)

As an eternal teenager, Kanda was forced to deal with real teenagers and their very dramatic problems on the daily. It was part of the reason he had avoided high school as long as he had. They were petty and immature, more than most humans.

It was up to him to be level-headed and calm in stressful situations. “Lenalee, if you don’t stop freaking out I’m going to drop-kick you into the sun.”

“Kanda, you aren’t helping.” Allen sighed. They were standing in the parking lot, Lenalee wearing a rut into the asphalt as she paced to and fro. Lavi was nowhere to be seen. In the distance, Kanda could hear the swell of screams of fans at the football game.

Because of course he was at the football game. All his dumb friends were at the football game, and he didn’t have much else to do on his own.

Allen sat on the trunk of Kanda’s car, watching Lenalee. She was understandably freaked out, Kanda guessed, but worrying wouldn’t make Bookman show up any faster.

“He’ll make it, right?” She asked, turning to look at them. The light from the streetlights caught in her eyes, making them glow eerily. Her amulet was wrapped around her wrist, the chain pulled taught against her skin.

“Sorry, Lena, I don’t think I’m getting it yet.” Allen raised his hand like he was in a classroom. “Why can’t you wear that during your routine?”

“It’ll fall off.” Lenalee gnawed at her bottom lip, drawing a spot of blood. “I tried practicing with it but it just won’t stay. It’s too risky.”

Well, if one of their cheerleaders turned into a harpy in the middle of their routine, it would certainly put a damper on things.

“He’ll show up.” Kanda leaned back against the car, reaching out to flick Lenalee’s nose. “He’s an asshole, but he pulls through.”

“I think that’s the nicest thing I’ve heard you say about anyone ever.” Allen whispered. Kanda pinched his arm.

“If you tell him I said that I’ll destroy you,” Kanda vowed. “I know how to make it look like an accident.”

The kid had the gall to roll his eyes, yawning exaggeratedly. “You sound like a bully from a ‘90s sitcom.”

“Shh, I think that’s him!” They watched a battered pick up careen into the parking lot, Lavi emerging a few seconds later, thoroughly disheveled.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m so sorry,” he gasped, flapping his hand in front of his face. “I got it, I’ll explain later, or whatever.”

He rolled a hair elastic of his wrist, holding it out to Lenalee, who took it with a frown. “What’s this?”

“Your amulet.” Ragged as he was, Lavi still managed to look smug. “It won’t come off, and no one will notice. Also reinforced it a bit too. Gramps helped, but I did most of the work. Did you know elastic is an absolute fucking nightmare to enchant?”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Lenalee breathed, wrapping the elastic around her ponytail.

Lavi winked, brushing his thumb across Lenalee’s lip to wipe away the blood. “I do my best. Come on, let’s go watch some sportsball.”

“See you after halftime!” Lenalee dropped a kiss on Lavi’s cheek, waving to the others as she took off back to the stadium.

“You were cutting it kinda close, Lavi,” Allen said, sliding off the back of Kanda’s car.

“God, don’t even get me started.” Once Lenalee was out of sight, Lavi visibly sagged, dropping his weight unexpectedly on Allen. “I thought I was gonna die.”

Allen grunted, hefting Lavi onto his shoulders. “Ow, why this? What happened?”

“You used up all of your power to make that thing, didn’t you?” Kanda accused. Lavi didn’t even bother looking apologetic.

Sighing, Kanda wrapped his arm around him, lifting him off Allen’s back. “You’re an idiot.”

“You’ve mentioned that before, yeah,” Lavi said, cheerful even as his legs gave out under him. “The world is spinning, by the way.”

Kanda ignored him, stopping to pick him up. “Unbelievable.”

“Look at that,” Allen gasped, jogging to keep up with Kanda’s longer stride. “You’ve done _two_ nice things today! That’s a record!”

Kanda felt it was very mature of him not to wring the kid’s neck, or to drop the snickering redhead in his arms. 


	12. Liquid Paradise

  
[dreamers-wonderland](http://dreamers-wonderland.tumblr.com/) asked:

20s!Jazz au for dgm ouo Cross can own the club, Allen can play the piano, etc.

**Liquid Paradise**

Characters: Lavi, Allen Walker, Tyki Mikk, Alma Karma, Kanda Yuu

* * *

 

“You know, when I told my folks I had a promising future ahead of me, I don’t think running booze for a juice joint was what they had in mind.” Lavi mused. The lighter in his hands clicked once, twice, before catching, the flame burning for a brief second before going out.

“I don’t know,” Allen muttered, sitting on the step of their borrowed breezer. “There’s worse things out there than being a bootlegger.”

Lavi tilted his head, cigarette dangling from his lips, squinting in the darkness. “Ya ain’t wrong, kid. I think this is it.”

A car came into view, its headlights blinding the two waiting by the docks. Lavi tried to shield his eyes with his hand, frown tugging at the corner of his mouth as the driver stepped into the light. The man walked over, hand resting loosely on his belt, a smirk on his face at Allen’s loud groan.

“Tyki, what are you doing here?” His face screwed up in a scowl as he struggled to peer through the blinding light.

“I think I should be asking that, don’t you think boys?” Tyki grinned, casting a pointed look around the docks. “Just making sure no one is getting into trouble.”

“Everything’s copacetic, officer,” Lavi ground out, crossing his arms sullenly. “Nothing to worry about here.”

Tyki hummed, walking to circle their car. Allen watched him tap the metal hull with the butt of his baton, the ringing echoing in the night. “Tyki, cut the bushwa. What do you want?”

“Is that any way to talk to family, kid?” The cop teased, ignoring the surprised look Lavi shot his way. He continued around the car, leaning heavily on the truck. “The old man owes me, by the way.”

“Cross said you won’t get a dime unless you stop skimming from the shipments,” Allen stated matter-of-factly, getting to his feet with a sigh. “He’s taking the cost from your cut.”

“Now that’s just rude,” Tyki grumbled.

“So’s your old man,” Allen retorted, reaching out to punch Lavi’s shoulder lightly. “Relax. Tyki’s on the level. He keeps the actual good cops off our tail.”

“Swell,” the redhead replied weakly, rubbing his chest. “And here I thought he was gonna take us out on a ride.”

“Nah.” Tyki laughed, the badge on his chest catching the light. “If you ask me, this whole outlawing alcohol thing is a load of bull. It won’t last.”

“I hope it does.” Lavi laughed, finally lighting his cigarette. “It’s great for business.”

“Speaking of business, mooch off, Tyki.” Allen waved his hand dismissively. “We can’t have a cop hanging around, you’ll scare off our supplier.”

Tyki huffed irritably, walking back to his car. “Tell Cross that he owes me interest.”

They watched him leave, Allen plastering a smile on his face until the car was out of view. “Sometimes I wish I could punch him in the face.”

“I thought he was family?” Lavi asked, curious.

Allen shrugged, sitting heavily. “A cousin, or something. I’ve stopped trying to figure out what anyone is in my family.”

“I had no idea we had a flatfoot on our payroll.” Lavi puffed on his cigarette, watching the ashes fall. “Anything else I should know about the boss’s business partners?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but the less you know about Cross’s business, the better.” The kid smiled, but Lavi would be damned if he believed it.

“Does that mean I can’t ask why the joint’s piano player is also the hooch runner?” He tried to blow a smoke ring, glancing at the kid.

“You can ask, sure.” His smile slipped into something more genuine, waving the smoke away from his face. “There’s nothing sinister to it. Cross just doesn’t want to pay someone to do the job when he can just make me do it.”

“He’s paying me, though.” Lavi pointed out, dropping the cigarette, crushing it under his heel.

“He’s paying you to be the muscle in case the supplier leaves us holding the bag.” Allen sniffed. “Which has happened. So look sharp, rotgut’s here.”

The car that pulled up to the docks rattled and wheezed, and it had clearly seen better days. Still, the people that stepped out of the car seemed swanky as all hell, completely out of place in the dingy docks.

Allen stood, a tight smile on his face as he moved to greet the newcomers. The shorter of the two smiled back, but the tall one just glowered at Lavi.

“Hey, Al,” the short one said softly, shaking Allen’s outstretched hand. “Who’s your friend?”

“Lavi,” Allen glanced back, ignoring the tall man. “He’s new to the city. I’m just showing him the ropes.”

Lavi nodded, flicking his lighter absently. The tall one continued to glare at him, eyeing his movements with an intensity Lavi had never felt before. He wondered if he had a weapon on him; if he had known he was going to be hired muscle for the kid, he could have at least prepared.

Allen and the dealer seemed to be on good terms, though, finishing the transaction smoothly. Allen handed over the dough, completely at ease. The short one counted the money quickly, nodding at the tall man once he was finished. “Go ahead, Yuu.”

The goods – a shipment of whisky and gin – were hidden in large crates of books, their faded covers hiding bottles between hollowed-out pages. “That’s all of ‘em,” The short one – Alma, Lavi found out later – said, shaking Allen’s hand in farewell. “See you soon, Al.”

Again, Lavi and Allen watched them depart, the sound of waves lapping gently against the docks filling the silence until Allen yawned.

“Let’s go on, then.” He slid into the passenger seat, rubbing his face. “We still have to drop the goods off, and get the place ready for business tomorrow night.”

“Sounds grand.” Lavi drove them back to town, idly wondering what his folks would say if they could see him now. 


End file.
